The House That Whispers

While their parents take “time to talk,” trans sixth grader Simon Bradley and sisters Rose, eight, and Thalia, 13, stay with their maternal grandmother, Nanaleen, in Misty Valley, Ky. Simon is a “secret name” that feels new and tender, like “a baby bird that’s not ready to fly out of the nest yet,” but Simon’s been mentally employing it when people address him otherwise. Nanaleen’s house is different than Simon remembers: the town is quiet in the off-season, Simon keeps seeing a ghostly figure in the family home, and Nanaleen exhibits significant memory lapses during the siblings’ stay. Unsettled by these occurrences and changing dynamics, and wondering if the ghost is to blame, Simon investigates the family’s history, looking into a great-aunt who mysteriously left home as a teen. Though the novel’s ending is hastily resolved, Thompson (The Best Liars in Riverview) punctuates a gentle story of bonding with genuinely scary moments and lovely descriptions of gender euphoria (“This warm feeling would start in my chest, like I was carrying around a little glowing light”). Reminiscent of Kyle Lukoff’s Too Bright to See, it’s an intriguing, warmhearted exploration of beauty and change. Simon’s family reads as white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Beth Phelan, Gallt & Zacker Literary. (Feb.)